President Obama was quick to invite France’s Socialist president-elect to Washington for a visit, but the White House also had some rather perplexing advice for Francois Hollande:

President Obama’s spokesman warned the new socialist president-elect of France not to implement his campaign agenda of ending austerity measures, indicating that such a reversal could damage the world economy.

“A balanced approach . . . Both fiscal consolidation and efforts to boost the recovery is the right approach for Europe,” White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters today. “That’s an approach that he thinks ensures that the recovery continues while putting our fiscal house in order.”

Hollande campaigned on a platform of raising taxes on the wealthy and dramatically increasing domestic spending on stimulus and other programs. Sound familiar? So why would the Obama administration be worried that France might do more of the same thing we’re told will save America from a recession/depression and generations of insurmountable debt?

Ace at Ace of Spades a bead on the Obama administration’s primary concern in all this… which is of course the fate of the Obama administration:

If France crashes, it offers America a preview of where Obama’s policies will take us, so he… doesn’t want France to implement Obama’s policies. He doesn’t want that heads up. Not before the election.

In addition, of course, a second official recession would just about wrap things up for Romney.

On a related note, Hollande’s election, as many predicted, did indeed spook the markets.